1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to cuff constructions, and in particular to cuff constructions for garments and the like which provide an opening for the thumb of the wearer to extend outside the cuff.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cuffs are well known in the art of clothing manufacture. Almost every article of clothing has a cuff of some sort at the opening through which a person's hand is extended. These cuffs come in many forms, such as button closing cuffs and elastic band closing cuff, but the main function of these cuffs is merely to seal the clothing around the arm of the wearer and not to cover the hands. Thus, people would commonly pull the sleeves of the garment over the hand to provide a makeshift covering to protect the hands. This would distort the garment and make the hands unavailable to perform a variety of tasks.
In the past various modified cuffs have been devised. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,027 issued to Buenos et al. on Jul. 12, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,117 issued to Buenos et al. on Jun. 30, 1992 disclose a cuff construction with a panel for entirely covering the finger and thumb of the hand like a mitten.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,784 issued to Harrington on Nov. 23, 1982 discloses a sleeve-mitten combination for enclosing the entire hand, fingers and thumb of the wearer in a tubular structure formed at the end of a sleeve.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,717 issued to Tolton on Aug. 18, 1992 discloses an athletic garment having a "piston and cylinder" cuff arrangement to furnish the wearer with an extra five to six inches of cuff extension without having the sleeve ride-up the arm of the wearer. The sleeve arrangement does not cover any portion of the hand of the wearer.
However, none of the cuffs of the past provide protection to the hands and which permits the wearer to retain a normal sense of touch and full use of the hand. It would be advantageous if a cuff provided a covering for the hands of the wearer that allows at least a portion of the thumb and/or the fingers to be exposed so that the wearer's sense of touch is not unimpeded by the presence of a hand covering.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a cuff construction for covering at least a portion of the hand which provides the additional function of providing an opening for the thumb and/or the fingers of the wearer to extend to the outside of the cuff, that conveniently stored within the cuff and out of the way when not in use.